Madisen Johanson prepares to shoot a free throw at the end of the first half against Swanville in Tuesday night's 49-39 loss. I(Jared Rubado / Echo Press.)4 / 4

The Osakis girls basketball team had another rough night on the offensive side of the floor during a 49-39 loss to Swanville (8-1) Tuesday. The defeat is now the fourth straight for the Silverstreaks.

“We competed hard. We competed and worked hard and that’s what I told them,” head coach Pat Kalpin said. “We just gotta find ways to score. We missed a lot of shots early, so we just have to keep putting them through shooting drills and hopefully we get in a routine and a rhythm.”

Junior guard Alexa Lien had a strong first half. She scored the first seven points of the game for Osakis, including a three-pointer that cut the Bulldog’s early lead down to three. Swanville would finish out the half on a 15-10 run to go into the locker room with a 25-17 lead.

The Silverstreaks played a closer second half. They were able to play tight defense and keep the Bulldogs under 50 points.

“We knew they had a good point guard. (Senior Emily) Beseman is a great player,” Kalpin said. “Our plan was once she got rid of the ball to not let her get it back. In the first half, I didn’t think we did as good of a job. We did better in the second half. It’s frustrating when they still find ways to score and how she was able to beat us in different ways."

Kalpin also mentioned that Swanville has two players with over 1,000 career points, and it’s always tough to play offenses led by that kind of scoring.

Freshman guard Alexis Johnson led the Silverstreaks in points with 11. Nine of them came in the second half.

“She’s got potential,” Kalpin said. “She’s got to learn how to play at a high level in these varsity games and know how hard she needs to push herself. She’s getting there, but it takes time."

Osakis is going to go through some growing pains, but they showed promise at times against one of the better Class A teams in this region of the state. The Bulldogs now sit at 8-1 overall and 3-1 in the Prairie Conference. Their only loss is to conference-leading Royalton in a 67-58 game on Dec. 7.

The Silverstreaks are now 2-9 on the season and will travel to Barnesville on Jan. 11 to take on the 6-6 Trojans.

Jared is a graduate of Augustana University with a degree in journalism and sport management. Jared is a long-time Minnesota sports fan who, for some reason, still has never seen any of his favorite teams win a championship. He is also a movie fanatic. His favorite kind of movies are comic book films and musicals. Jared is from Brainerd, Minnesota and played sports growing up. He was a goalie for his high school hockey team. Jared is excited to contribute to the community of Douglas County and is looking forward to meeting many of you.